Blast From the Past
"Blast From the Past" is the tenth James Bond short story and the first to be written by Raymond Benson. It was first published in the January 1997 issue of Playboy Magazine magazine accompanied with illustrations by Gregory Manchess. "Blast from the Past" is intended to be a direct sequel to Fleming's You Only Live Twice and appears to exist as a postscript to the Fleming canon, outside the timeline of either Benson's or John Gardner's continuation Bond stories. Plot In retirement, James Bond is still living in his Chelsea flat. After receiving a letter, Bond discovered he had a son, James Suzuki. Bond had seen him several times, and helped support the child, who ended up moving from Japan to America. When James' mother Kissy Suzuki died of ovarian cancer, Bond put James through college, and after graduating he started a career in finance as a banker. Bond had little direct contact with James, citing a chain of memories led back to his dead wife Tracy buried deep within his psyche. Bond receives a note in the mail from James saying that he should come to New York urgently. Bond phoned James, but there was no answer at James' home. When he called the bank James worked in, they confirmed he hadn't been in for days. Bond then booked a flight to New York. Bond arrives in New York and when he gets to his son's apartment he finds him dead, poisoned by fugu. Bond contacted New York's MI6 branch who send agent Cheryl Haven to assist Bond. After finding a safe deposit key in the apartment, Bond and Haven go to the bank where James worked. A hapless locksmith takes a bomb intended for Bond. After darting outside, Bond spies an old bag lady he had seen hanging around James's apartment. The pair pursue the woman after stealing an off-duty taxi. Bond chases her to an old abandoned warehouse. He is lead into a trap and two hired men disarm and overpower him. The woman the removes her disguise and shows herself to Bond. It turns out that the old lady is none other than Irma Bunt, who survived the explosion many years ago in Japan. She reveals that she escaped the Castle of Death by boat, but was hit in the head by debris and almost drowned after the volcano erupted. Like Bond, she lost her memory and was taken to a clinic near Kyoto, where she underwent operations to put a metal plate in the right side of her skull and repair skin damage on her face. Her rehabilitation took ten years. Haven bursts into the room and disarms a thug wielding an Uzi. Surprised, the other man dropped Bond's Walther PPK while Bunt dashed from the room. Bond pursues her into a room filled with mannequins. The two exchange fire and Bond is hit in the leg. He, though, has fatally wounded Bunt who dragged herself toward Bond and snarled "English pig...." before slumping over dead. Bond recovers in hospital, and is further "comforted" by agent Haven. Background Author Raymond Benson acknowledged that Playboy cut 1/3 of the story for spacing reasons. The name James Suzuki, used for Bond's son, is taken from John Pearson's faux biography, James Bond: The Authorised Biography of 007. References Category:Short Stories